Lose Weight by Doing This One Thing Before Bed

Want to boost your metabolism? Since for many of us that's a stupid question, here's another trick for you to keep up your sleeve this autumn and into winter, according to Reader's Digest. Scientists have discovered that sleeping in a room between 60° and 67°F (that's between 15.5° and 19.4° in Celsius) can boost your metabolism.

In a study published in the journal Diabetes, researchers found that not only did people who slept in 66°F rooms (18.8°C) burn over 7% more calories than those who snoozed in warmer rooms, but the cool temperatures could protect them from metabolic diseases like diabetes.

Add that up, and 7% extra calories works out at around 100 calories every three nights (if you sleep for eight hours each time). That's around 230 extra calories a week, roughly 1000 per month and 12,000 per year. Not a huge number, but every little bit counts, right? When I completed a run streak (running a mile every day for 500 days), I burnt an extra 100 calories daily too. During that time, I generally didn't have to watch what I ate. You don't have to run to get the same benefits, though—you just have to leave your heating switched off (it's money-saving, too).

So why is a cold room beneficial? The researchers have been led to believe that in a cooler room, our bodies have to work harder to raise our core temperature to the normal 98.6°F (37°C). This extra work means you're burning more calories even when you're sleeping.